Foot-guard for rails.



D. D. LYONS.

FOOT GUARD FOB. RAILS. APPLIGATION FILED D110. a, 1913.

1,120,069u Patented Dec. 8, 1914l W WU@ DANIEL D. LYONS, OIE CARPENTER, IOWA.

FOOT-GUARD FOR RAILS.

Application filed December 3, 1913.

To all who/m, t may concern Be it known that I, DANIEL D. LvoNs, a citizen of the United States, residing at Carpenter, in the county of Mitchell and State of Iowa, have invented certain new and useiul Improvements in F oct-Guards for Rails; and I do hereby declare the 'fellowing` to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to railroad appliances, and more particularly te a foot guard designed to prevent the catching or wedging of a persons foot between the main and guard rails of a railroad.

One of the principal objects of the invention is to provide a foot guard which may easily and quickly be secured to the J rails without the requirement of skilled labor and without the use of any but ordinary tools.

A further object is to provide a foot guard' which will be simple, durable, etlicient in operation, inexpensive to manufacture, and which will have no parts liable to becomq disarranged.

A urther object of the invention is to provide a foot guard adapted to extend between the ball and the base of a main rail and guard rail to prevent the wedging of a persons foot therebetween.

Vith these and other objects in View, the invention consists in the construction, com

bination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described and claimed, and, illustrated in the accompanyingr drawings, in which like characters of reference indicate like parts throughout the several iigures and in which,

Figure l represents a top plan view oi a portion of main rail and guard rail, showing the application of my invention thereto, Fig. 2 represents a sectional view taken on the vertical plane of the line 2--2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 represents an end elevational view of a main rail and guard rail, showing the invention in use thereon, Fig. 4 represents the end elevational view of a main rail, the spikes not being shown for the purpose of clearness, and Fig. 5 represents a plan view of the blank from which the plate is formed. Figs. 6 and 7 represent views similar to Figs. 2 and 4 respectively, of a modified form of the invention.

In the drawing I have illustrated the in- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 8, 1914. sei-iai No. 804,393.

vention as applied to the main rail 5 and guard rail (l oi a track, but it may also be applied to the rails at railroad crossings, and to frogs.

The blank from which the plate is formed comprises a body 7, formed at its ends with right angular arms 8 which form the base of the plate, and said arms at the opposite ends of the body 7 extend beyond said body, as at 9, and form shoulders l0 for a purpose to be hereinafter described.

Base portions 8 are adapted to lie under the base flange of the rail to which the plate is applied and between said flange and the tie to which it is secured, said base portions S extending at their outer edges beyond the inner edge of the base flange and being provided with openings 11, through which spikes 13 are adapted to pass, said openings occurring at the inner edge of the flange S0 that the spikes may secure said flange and base portions to the ties. I have illustrated the base portions as spaced a distance bctween two adjacent ties, but it will be understood that the plate may be extended across three or more ties, as desired.

The body 7 oi the plate is bent upwardly approximately on the dotted lines 15 of Fig. 5, and is bent against the outer edge of the base flange (see Fig. 4) and extends upwardly at an inclination and has its upper edge lying against the under face of the ball of the rail near the outer edge thereof so that the outer face of the body 7 falls in approximately the same plane with the outer beveled surface ol the ball o the rail. When thus positioned, the shoulders 10 will fall beneath the outer edge of the base flange of the rail, and it will be desirable to drive aspike 13 into the tie and against the outer edge of the base of the rail and against said shoulder, and said spike will also bear against one end ot' the body portion of the plate, as shown in Fig. 1, it bcing understood that a spike 13 is driven at each end of said body portion. By means, therefore, of spikes 12 and 13, the plate will be held against movement either longitudinally or transversely oi.' the rail to which it is secured.

lV hen the plate is secured to the curved end of a guard rail G, the method of securing it will be the same as before described, and the body oi the plate will be curved to conform with the curvature of the guard rail, and, as illustrated in Fig. 3, when the there will be no chance of anything being caught beneath the lower edge of the body,

.and to effect this end the base portions,

the base portion, .2

` face of the strip lying where they join onto 'the body, are bent over the edge of the liange of the rail, as shown in Fig. 4L. y

-In the modiiied form shown in Figs( 6 "and 7, the base portion 8 of the plate is substantially rectangular, and is provided centrally of one edge with an upturned body portion 7 which lies at its upper edge against the ball of the 1ail,wvliich rests on and at theupper end of the portion 7 is an inbent tongue 16, which fits at its upper and inner edges against the ball and web respectively ofthe rail. rlhe body portion 7 and tongue 16 are adapted to support the ends of, and to prevent movement of, a strip or filler 1'( of wood or metal which is of a shape to iill the space lying between the ball and base iianges of the rail on one side of the web thereof, the outer in the same plane as the adjacent outer face of the ball of the rail.

Copies of this patent may te obtained for ve cents each,

Washington, D. G.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is,

ln a foot guard for rails, the combination with the rail of anelongatejd body member adapted tobepositioned between the head and flange of said rail in such manner that the outer face of said body member is in substantially the same plane with the outer beveled surface ofthe rail head, extensions formed at the extremity of said body member and adapted to be bent around the outer edgevof the rail flange and into engagement with its lower surface,'said bent extensions being provided 1 form shoulders and 'being provided, with apertures, and means to rigidly fasten said extensions to a railroad tie, said means'inclu'ding spikes Ydriven so as to abut said shoulders and other spikes driven through said apertures and gripping the opposite flange of the rail.

ln testimony whereof have signed my with a cut away portion to name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

DANIEL D. LYONS.

l/Vitnesses: p

CARL GOLBERG, A. C. SGHULTZ.

, y, by addressing the Commssionerof Patents, 

